My minimalist quest to live off grid in the desert in a modified 1977 Dodge motor home rebuilt from mostly recycled, and re-purposed stuff. It's a purposeful lifestyle of survival to help prepare me for a possible mission to Mars in 2034... or something like that.

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Sunday, October 16, 2016

Storage, Solar Power, and Winter Preparations

I needed some storage space and a good place to mount my solar panels where they would be protected from the wind and snow. So, I bought an old utility trailer on KSL from a nice man who was kind enough to deliver it for me (probably because I payed him to).

Mounting the solar panels what challenging because they are heavy. I bought some off the shelf hardware from Lowe's and installed the two on the right by myself. That was a pain in the ass. Fortunately, I had a good friend there to help me mount the other two.

I bought two Might Max batteries from Amazon and a pure sine inverter. I didn't have anywhere better to put them so I just hooked them up on the floor. Then I remembered something: I had just moved out of my old apartment and I needed to sell this old laptop cart that I bought for my classroom but my school wouldn't let me use it.... Instead they called me insubordinate for offering to donate and maintain a mobile computer lab. Weirdos. Anyway, I had this idea:

I took out all the laptops and I'm going to give them away to needy children... or sell them on eBay--whichever comes first. I then removed the laptop dividers and converted it into a power box. I cut the plug off of one of the power strips at the back and wired it into the output on my inverter.

It has room for two more batteries which I will purchase as soon as I get the money.

I wired the batteries and inverter together with cables I made out of welding cable. It's the best quality cable I could find with the lowest resistance.

Then I wired an RV power outlet onto the front of my trailer and plugged in my motor home.

I have the power!!!

After that I microwaved some beans and ate them because I was hungry.

Electricity makes beans taste better.

I also started making some preparations for winter. I poured about a 7th of the water out of my storage containers to prevent any cracking in case they freeze.

I store my water under my couch.

Which pulls out into an extra bed.

I finally moved my good mattress into the loft. It's so cozy.

After spending the night in my RV I was pretty cold. Then I realized what I could do with those nifty foam sheets that came in my solar panel boxes: window insulators! I was excited to see how well they keep the heat in and drafts out and how much light they still let in.

I'm not Mormon, but I love (to hate) BYU.

God sure knows how to cook up a planet.

I own this piece of nature.... How does that make any sense??? Who can own a rock? Who can own a tree? Hold on, I don't have any trees yet.